Eating Out: Vegucation Night Markets

I got to attend an extra little vegan market in October, the second annual Vegucation Vegan Night Market. This was a much smaller market compared to the Brisbane Vegan Markets, but had some fun stalls, as well as some information talks and a lot of literature available. It was a small venue, and pretty laid back - there were some chairs on the grass and lots of people having picnics.

It was on a Saturday evening, and started at 5. I finished work at 4pm that day, but a short six minute drive from the location. So to fill in time I popped into The Green Edge (which was on the way there) to pick up a few staples and spend some time reading my book with this yummy Gingerbread Hot Chocolate. Normally they made it as a Gingerbread latte, with coffee. I've had it as just a gingerbread latte with soy milk only before, though I needed something with a bit more flavour. The chocolate and gingerbread combination was a winner!



And then on to the markets. I had a craving, so I knew I wanted to start my evening with some of the mac and cheese from Green Street Foods.



There was a small hall, where they were doing talks and had a lot of information. They were also selling a few food items as examples of what you can easily make on a vegan diet. I could not say no to this cheesy stuffed sausage, wrapped in puff pastry. As I was about to eat it, I wished I had some tomato sauce. There was tomato sauce inside! Perfection.



I was keen to try a selection of different flavours of momos from Tibetan Momo Cafe, especially the mushroom and tofu. The plate also some mixed vegetable ones, and some pumpkin ones. Unfortunately, these weren't great. The dough was really thick, some of the fillings were barely warm. So not a great experience. But I know a lot of people love them, and I have sampled some from there before that were good, so I am guessing this was just an off night?



By now you should know that I love ice cream! And I was pretty excited to get to try a new to me ice cream stall - Space Bars. They make the ice cream in front of you using liquid nitrogen - magic! They use a base of Bonsoy and coconut milk, and were kind enough to let me try a sample to make sure that it was not going to be too coconut fatty for me. It wasn't! They had a couple of flavours to choose from, and I went with chocolate topped with cookie crumbs. It was really good! Though it did melt quite fast. And my commitment to cones meant that I got some pretty sticky hands, but worth it!



I got a few goodies to take home as well. I was excited to try a Cake Girl Doughnut, which I had seen a lot about. They normally have stalls at markets down on the Gold Coast. They have gluten full and gluten free options, of course I went with full of gluten. I had the peanut butter pretzel one. I shared it with my parents. The doughnut itself was a little underwhelming, it seems that the icing is where most of the flavour lies. It was fairly sweet, but was a nice mix of peanutty goodness and salty pretzel.



Finally another little treat from the raw stall Bliss & Co. Today their coconut free offering was the Rocky Road, which was a lovely (though delicate) chocolatey bar full of nuts and fruit.



That was the second year that these markets have been held, and it was a fun evening out. They are more low key than the Brisbane Vegan Markets, with a bit more emphasis on education. Going early was the right decision, as it started filling up quickly as the night went on!

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



One unimpressed little Dim Sim. We could do with some good thoughts from everyone. Dim Sim is going in for an ultrasound next week, because she has had an increased liver enzyme over her last two blood tests. My boss thinks that it is unlikely that anything bad will be found. But of course I am freaking out. Just over a year ago Sahara had her ultrasound that found her GI cancer, which was not what the ultrasound was even for. I hope my little black baby will be OK!